Chapter 3 - Tournament

They continues one by on, until no more rings we're left. On Agamemnon's scroll read;

Ring style. Ring. Score

Lightning Arthur +

Tornado Ujiro. -

Spell. Merlin. +

Larva. Karen. -

Symphony Zane +

Blood Annie. -

Beast. Rick. +

Dragon. Dante. +

Dome. Eric. +

" now that that's put of the way, we will now go to the individual tournaments " Asake said

" for the entire course of the rites, a tournament will be held each day to see what you've learnt from the test, each victor, at the end of every tournament will be awarded a special prize at the end of the rites" he finished, using an ' informe ' seigul to communicate the setting of the tournament.

The seigul glowed in the air before revealing the matches.

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Arthur Ana Karen Rick

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Eric Zane. Merlin Demi

With there being nine slots, Dante was pushed to the final round.

"I'll referee the tournament; and I expect you all to give your all and may the best ring win" Ember said as she walked out from the order "Everyone take your places, the first match will be Arthur vs Ana"

"Rungs are you ready" she asked as they took their stances facing each other.

" Yes" they chorused.

" Begin! "

Instantly Ana dashed forward and with that the first tour names had begun

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On reaching Arthur, she unleashed a deadly barrage of strikes and slashes which Arthur seemingly dodged with minimal effort.

Seeing this, she bit back her lip in frustration, ready to tear him limb from limb if given the chance.

Unknown to her, Arthur's incredible reflexes where thanks to the outburst of the lightning rings - sonic dash,.

Sonic dash is a ring which enables the user to merge their cells with lightning particles, turning them into an incomplete lightning bolt. When mastered, the speed of this ring alone could rival the innate speed of the light ring, which was how he survived against Akila earlier.

After a few more unsuccessful attempts at Arthur's head, Ana's eyes became bloodshot, with veins popping out of her forehead.

She was about to activate a passive ring which was forbidden during normal fights because of its clear destructive power.

The innate nature of every blood ring came with a set back, in the form of the 10th ring - Blood bane, as if any blood ring gets angry /frustrated all their physical attributes as well as their blood lust doubles, making them an almost indestructible killing machine.

Which was why during the first sci-mage war, blood rings we're deliberately targeted and their kind expunged leaving Sinbad and his daughter as the only surviving members of their clan.

These thoughts and more ran through Arthur's mind as he saw the transformation take place, first her eyes turned blood red, her veins bulged out becoming even more visible and her runic energy glowed out like a broken dam.

The other rings backed away, even ten other stepped back a little.

" don't you think we should stop the match, your son might get hurt " Agamemnon scoffed at Asake

" No, its his decision to make " Asake replied with a look of confidence on his face, affirming his son's capabilities as adequate.

Arthur just stood there with a clam demeanor, with his sword held tightly by both his hands and his legs a few metres apart as he waited for get next volley.

More irritated, Ana lunged forward with great speed sprouting dust waves and leaf rustles.

" ahh " she roared mid air as she approached him with killing intent present in her eyes.

She flung her sword down with pure fury in her eyes, in return, he lifted his sword to block but the intensity was too much, so much so that it drove him to a knee, still the force kept driving him deeper into the ground creating a crater underneath him.

Her smile widened as she saw this " lowly scum, kneel before your queen " she said in mockery of his posture.

" Arthur Pendragon, do you concede " Agamemnon asked

" I do not " he said with with clear confidence, as though he wasn't someone who was currently being driven to the ground... literally.

He gnashed his teeth trying to rally himself, using his left leg he bounced backwards, but in the process, GE suffered a cut to the cheek from her blade.

" your strength is indeed monstrous, bug you do not have the skill to back it up " Arthur stated while wiping the blood form his face.

" your one to talk, your so scared yo can't even chant a single ring " she mocked.

" I'm not scared of you "

" then why can't you.. "

"..because I don't need a ring to end you "

That single statement from Arthur silenced her laughter.

" I'll admit I didn't plan on getting hurt, so let's see end this "

In a blink Arthur vanished from where he stood

" wh.. where did he go " Ana thought looking around the battle area. Then out of nowhere she saw different streaks of lightning moving at incredible speeds, their target of course...was her.

She tried deflecting them with her sword, but after about two bolts the streaks of lightning collided with her body, ravaging her with waves of pain as each bolt pierced her skin drawing blood ever so slowly.

She tried screaming, but no sound could be heard. She finally fell backwards still twitching from the shocks, too hurt to continue, as her eyes came upon the blue sky, a single thought broke her mind

" how did he win "

Seeing this, Ember promptly announced " winner! Arthur Pendragon "..

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Ember's shout rang throughout the arena causing pin drop silence. Everyone just enragingere stunned. Even the order were no exemption their surprise was for a different reason altogether. No, it wasn't because of the the power behind the attack but rather of the skill to produce such a potent incantation.

To the normal eye, it seemed as though he simply transformed into lightning bolts, but in reality, he had split his molecular makeup in with the 'sonic dash' ring causing the effect. This level of control was just not possible for a ring of his rank, as one would need the utmost focus as to not loose themselves.... Literally.

" Arthur keeps surprising us Asake " Akila said with a grin on her face.

"Even I didn't expect that much from him" he replied

"Humph, twas merely luck , let's see how he does against his next opponents" Agamemnon stated with a look of unfaltering confidence

"Well then, the next match is between Blade Merlin and Ujiro Demetry" Ember announced making them regain focus.

"Are you ready" she asked as they took their stance opposite each other.

"Yes!! " they chorused

"then, begin! "

The arena stood quite once more, suspense ruling the day, unlike the previous fight none of them dashed forward rather, they held their stance, looking for an opening.

Then without warning, Ujiro began an incantation

"Tornado style - 1st ring - cyclone bla... "

"Inceneratòr" Merlin simply said, cutting ujiro off as well as producing a large fireball, which went straight for him at insane speeds.

Frozen, Ujiro couldn't evade and so once again the purple orb, held the fireball in place

"Winner Merlin Blade" Ember shouted

" how can this be?" Ujiro complained looking round him for supporters, of which he found quite a few who also shared his view.

"He won fare and square " Ember stated, preventing an uproar

"But he did so in an unconventional means, remember what happens when a ring fails to praise the runic gods in their incantation "

"Yes!, although the rings incantation speed would be greatly increased, it would also lower its strength, so although it is a faster way of releasing rings, it is not the most ideal " Rick said as though he was quoting right from a scroll.

"Very well done, but in this case young Merlin did more than that, the only way to evade the drawback of a drezar (praise less) incantation, is to add in runic distortion along side it, this helps to cancel out the negative effects of the drezar incantation, but this in itself is a high feat to accomplish, as the mastery needed is at the Order level for a ring Ember surmised in the end praising Merlin

"He truly is special, who is his charge if I may ask " Sinbad asked with a sly grin

"I am , of course, who else can impact that much skill to a mere ring" Agamemnon asked to which they all remained silent to watch the tournament proceedings

" but how about that other ring,... Dante was it, I hear he is also somewhat unstoppable " Sinbad commented in the hope of enraging Agamemnon

" don't be ridiculous Sinbad, this level of skill is unheard of already so it is impossible for two to appear in this generation " kenjiro stated

"Rightly said kenjiro" Agamemnon praised

"Well... What's next, I'm getting bored just sitting here " Rengen said with a yawn towards the end

"Ok then " up next is Karen Asher vs Rick bane..;are you ready? " Ember asked

To which they echoed "yes ma'am "

They took their positions, waiting on Ember to count them in.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Go!! "

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After a few minutes of nonstop barrages, Rick finally won with his Desert tiger summons and its sand stone elemental ability.

The next match between Eric and Zane took longer than the rest as it seemed they were evenly matched, that is up until Zane used on of his high tier rings 'sonic lull' which seemingly made Eric to freeze up, not showing signs of any movements, allowing Zane to win the match with minimal effort in delivering the final blow.

" such a shame your son didn't have an impressive showing Agamemnon " Asake smirked as he spoke

Although he was visibly enraged, he kept his cool, answering "all in due time Asake "

"The next round of matches will be between Rick bane and Zane " Ember announced, startling them, as they thought they were to follow the seiguls set up

"Ready? " she asked

"uh... Yes!!" They responded, still somewhat confused, over the turn of events

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Go!! "

Without wasting any time, Rick quickly summoned his Desert tiger

Then the battle began with Rick's tiger using it's roar to send out huge clumps of sand and stone, which flew towards Zane at great speeds, but instead of dodging which would have proved futile, Zane opted to using one of his rings, specifically his 'echo wall' to shield himself from the attacks.

After a few more failed attempts, Rick decided to summon another creature to even the playing field.

Beast rings could not summon an unlimited amount of creatures, as it required a lot of mental stability to even control a single summon. Throughout history, the most any ring was able to summon barely reached the twenty -man mark, but for Rick, he could easily control 3 summons, while his max number of summons was only five before it would become too much for him to handle.

*Oh! King of the gods, heed our pact, with streaks of light ever bright, I call on your soldier to show us your might*

At the end of his chant, a white seigul began engraving itself on the ground and after the last rune was marked, it shone brightly and out of its depths a white hawk emerged coated in lightning, eyes as blue as the sky, with a gold pattern on its back and feathers.

It stood at two metres high, with a wingspan of about three metres wide. This was the legendary thunder bird, a creature thought to be responsible for thunder claps and lightning flashes.

"Storm, attack!! , use Vlad volley "

Instantaneously, the hawk flew up in the air and dived down at full speed straight for Zane. Its speed was nothing short of a blur., not giving Zane room to set up any defences.

On reaching Zane, Storm collided wing first with Zane's body sending large waves of lightning through his body, making him scream at the top of his lungs in pain.

Storm, rather than stop to muse at her handiwork, continued upwards, and jerking back immediately, shot a thick, straight spear-like bolt of lightning from her beak .

Not wanting to be outdone by his colleague, Rue -the fest tiger, also shot large clumps of sand reinforced stones at zane simultaneously with the lightning spear.

The two attacks travelled towards Rick, who stayed there;paralyzed in place.

But as always, the purple orb rose once more stopping the two attack from colliding with him.

"That's enough, the match is over, Rick Bane is the winner " Ember said, releasing her orb, and on turn Rick desummoning his two beasts and their attacks.

"The next fight, will be a triple threat assault, it will be Arthur vs Merlin vs Dante " she continued, once again changing the set up.

"Are you ready? " she asked to which they answered as they took their spots

"Then, go!! "..

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The three remained still watching each other. Then as the seconds ticked away Merlin was the first to act.

"Inceneratòr" he said and swinging his sword down, huge waves of flames began moving towards Dante.

"you've chosen wisely, it would take both of you to even stand a chance against me " he said out loud startling some members of the Order as they we're yet to see him fight.

"Blaze dragon kin -imbue" Dante shouted, and in an instant his entire body was covered with crimson flames of his own blocking that of Merlin.

The flames blazed on spiralling round him, until it stopped abruptly revealing what lay inside.

The person who emerged from the flames was infact still Dante, just that he was now different.

He was now clad in a crimson red scaly armour, which flaunted a dragon crest on its chest piece, as well as gold flares forming a pattern around the entire armour, his sheath was not left out, as it also became dyed with a few gold accents here and there.

"At least try not to loose too early, i still need the practice " he said in a spine chilling tone and what could be described as a dull expression on his face.

He dashed towards Merlin, dodging all incoming fire waves and in turn responding with flames of his own which we're in no doubt superior to Merlin's.

On reaching him, he unsheathed his sword and sent a vertical slash, hoping to split merlin in half.

Suddenly a third sword cloaked in lightning stopped the other two mid slash

" I hope you all haven't forgotten about me " Arthur said with a smile on his face

"Get out of here you pest, you aren't worth my time, it is he I want " Dante yelled as he kicked Arthur to the side literally

" Oh really " Arthur said slowly getting up as he was in pain from the kick to his torso

" Lightning style -2nd rage - Sonic Clap"

The sonic clap was a rage technique, which is basically a combination of two rings of the same nature, in this instance, it was a combination of the speed abilities of the sonic dash ring and the disorienting capabilities of the thunder clap ring.

He dashed towards them with full speed as streaks of lightning glowed and flowed throughout him, on reaching them, he started circling them and with his thunder claps, their ability of perception began failing little by little.

"ahhh.. What the hell is this, I can't even think and my ear feels as though its about to pop any second now " Dante thought to himself

" seems like I will be helping you after all Arthur" Merlin said and began chanting

" really?.. I was wondering when you'd join in " Arthur replied still running at break neck speed round them.

" Magic style - 2nd ring - zoom est" Merlin said and immediately he began moving as a blur as he tried to match Arthur's movements with his own, further increasing the potency of the thunder claps making Dante go almost insane as he was now bleeding from his ears

" Arthur, let's finish this, use your legacy incarnation " Merlin shouted

"Ok, but you begin first so my incarnation does not consume too much runes" he replied

"Ok then - Magic style - 4th ring - Thundera " he chanted, and out of nowhere bright yellow streaks of lightning could be found everywhere, even forming a coating around his body.

" Now Arthur " Merlin shouted

" lightning style - legacy incarnation " as he said this words, Arthur transformed into pure energy, as his body took on the look of an orb with bright blue sparks emanating from its centre. He moved effortlessly through Merlin's lightning, and even absorbed some for his own in order to increase his power output

" combined ring - echoing thunder " they both shouted, as Arthur's now radiant orb- like body impaled Dante's armour, bringing him to his knees.

Blood flowed from Dante's mouth causing him to cough and spit out some more.

"You think that alone is enough " Dante said getting up and wiping the blood from his face.

Arthur released his legacy incarnation, as he and Merlin stood there panting, due to their over excessive runic depletion

" how is he still standing? " Arthur asked still trying to catch his breath

" it must be his armour "

" what do you mean? "

" while you were using your sonic clap to bombard him, I noticed that it affected his body but not his armour, regular armour would have shattered due to all those vibrations but his remained intact and whats more, it seems his armour gets tougher after every hit, due to the constant rise of his runic flow around it" Merlin finished his analysis with his eyes still fixated on Dante.

"So how do we beat him? "

" well, it seems like he is using an insane amount of runes just to keep the armour active, so if we can over load it with a repetitive ring, but something stronger than thunder clap.... a lot stronger " he answered

" Then I know just the ring for that " Arthur replied getting into a fighting stance

"Lightning style -5th ring - purge"

" Merlin, keep him busy, I need some time for purge to charge up " Arthur said while holding his sword out with his two hands outstretched infront of him, he just stood there with his eyes closed, concentrating.

His blade began to give off an ominous glow and soon after, streaks of lightning began building up from the centre of the blade at a speedy pace

" Don't worry, I've got your back, just don't take too long" Merlin replied also taking up his own fighting stance.

" how pitiful, you really think you alone will be enough to distract me, I must say you underestimate me too much " Dante spat with a smile on his face as he too drew our his sword, ready for a clash.

" Magic style - 1st rage - Icarus inceneratòr"

The magic rings ignus Icarus utilised the wind element in the users surroundings, allowing him to perform different variations of wind attacks, while the incenratòr, gave the user fire control.

When combined, in terms of destructive power, it was one of Merlin's strongest rages

" let's see whose flames are stronger " Merlin said with a barrage of different crescent shaped flames directed at him

These flames we're stronger and even faster than before, prompting Dante to react quickly

"Dragon style - Blaze dragon kin - Dragon breath"

He chanted, and took in a deep breath, then when Merlin's flames we're halfway from him he shot out a huge fireball from his mouth, towering his own height

It soared through the sky and collided with Merlin's flame slashes, causing a huge explosion.

The loud bang resounded in the arena, making everyone stare at the large wave of smoke that followed.

After seconds of silence a blue light was seen fluctuating in the smoke, getting ever stronger as the seconds passed.

" Merlin, I'm ready " a shout was heard

" Magic style - 5th ring - Ignus Icarus " using the wind currents of the ring, he slashed his sword and in doing so sent a large gust of smoke towards Dante, in order to obscure his vision

"Now!! Go!! " he shouted

Arthur dashed through the arena with incredible speed, even making Akila squint her eyes while watching, mostly due to the smoke screen.

He covered their distance within a blink of an eye and proceeded to slash Dante

" Haven't you learnt, you can't do anything while my armour is on, are you too foolish to even realise that" he mocked with a clear smile on his face, not even caring to block the strike.

Arthur simply ignored him and instead shouted the words that ended the fight

"PURGE!! "

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Purge was one of Arthur's strongest rings, due to its high destructive ability. Its only drawback being that it needed quite some tine to really unleash its full might, but with that aside, it could easily one - shot most rings.

It starts with a slash on the intended target and that was just it, with only that slash, the stored up every emanating from the users sword will pulsate out of the target electrifying its whole body and furthermore, its a very difficult attack to cancel out or stop because it uses the targets own energy to keep going, in essence the greater the runic flow of the target, the stronger the spell. In simpler teems, dante looked like a pinata spewing out lightning from his guts.

"What's going on?, I can't move " Dante screamed in pain, as his armour had reached its limit and began disintegrating, he stood there paralyzed by the streaks of lightning, only able to stare into the eyes of his opponent in disbelief as he fell flat unto the ground with a loud thud, which created a crater from impact.

" winner Arthur pendragon and Merlin blade "/Ember announced

" but how, isn't this supposed to be a triple threat match " Annie voiced her thoughts, as soon as she declared the winners.

"Yes, and even the previous match was changed, how are we to know who to fight if you keep changing it " Zane spoke, showing support for Ujiro's comment.

" in the outside world, are you told before hand, the list of before who will come at you " she asked them and the others rings who we're afraid to join the argument.

"No, but - "

"But nothing, everyone out there plans to see your doom, or are you gonna be complaining if someone suddenly challenges you.. No! , as a ring, you ate to keeps you heads high and rub ever towards danger, even if you do not have a chance of winning, am I understood!? "

she shouted

" yes ma " they responded acknowledging their faults and wishing that they hadn't show any signs of opposition in the first place

" secondly, this tournaments winners, are not decided by your winning a match, rather it is based on your performance in those fights irrespective of the outcome, is that clear? " she explained

" yes! ", once again they chorused on unison

"Those who passed today's tournament are ; Zane kishasa, Rick Bane, Dante Infernum, Merlin Blade, and finally Arthur Pendragon " she said, making some of those who thought they had failed smile as they heard their names being called

" This will mark the end of the rites for today " Agamemnon announced

" I urge you to learn from your mistakes and continue the rites with your head held up high " Asake advised ending the event, calling on the order for a close discussion while the other rings began leaving the arena while the order still stood there just staring at Arthur as he too walked away.

"Your boy is unstoppable asake " Elrin said with a smile on his face

" He does show promise" Inake remarked

"I'm beginning to wonder if this is the same boy I carried as a child " Akila commented adding to the overall awe

" what about that blade boy,... I forgot what ring he is again " Sinbad said scratching his head trying to remember

"Yeah me too, I think I saw him use fire, wind and even lightning just who is he?" Rengen asked

"what he is, is one of the orphans from the sci-mage war the second World to be exact. I knew his father quite well but I never imagined he would turn out to be a magic ring" kenjirou answered startling most if not all of them

"Wait!, what did you say- a magic ring, they still exist"Elric exclaimed

"I doubt it, cause if they still did, the third sci - mage wars would have already been upon us" Rengen said

The sci - mage wars, the single events that totally decimated the entire continent. It was all due to the appearance of two clans, but more so the Blade clan -the clan of magic rings.

An average magic ring was enough was capable of using up to 3 different types of magic, that alone made them a force to be reckoned with, so much so that the sci - mage council felt threatened enough to launch an all out attack just for them. Although, they did attack all the rings in general, their main objective we're the Blood and Magic rings.

Already, within a span of three years there have been two sci - mage wars and there was absolutely no need to trigger a third, as the body count from the previous wars recorded hundreds of thousands of lives lost.

"And who us his guardian? " Ember asked

"I am" Agamemnon replied

"How? " was the look plastered on their faces.

"After the sci - mage council declared the second war over, I came upon him by the cave just outside our territory and so I took him, seeing the promise he showed with the elements " he answered

"so what do we do? " asked Akila

"We do nothing" Asake said

" Asake!.. You knew about this? " she asked a bit surprised

"No! - of course not ;but the fact changes nothing, even if we wanted to, we cannot betray him, remember our runic ties " he said

They all noded with bent gazes

" but seeing as our plans involve the academy asylum, what then do we do " Zelius asked, being a new ring leader, he was unaware of any procedure regarding this situation.

"What else, we have to seal his power, yes it may be cruel yo do so but if we let him be, the sci - mage council will stop at nothing to tear him limb from limb" Kenjrou answered with a tense expression

"Moving on, what of the other boy, em , he is called Dante, I presume " Sinbad asked

"Yes I... " Elfin tried saying bur was immediately cut off.

" a disgrace of a ring, although he is a dragon ring, he has only learn the Blaze Dragon Kin, not even the Frost Giant or the Turtle Neck - totally disgraceful, the only note worthy thing about him is that he has managed to learn the skill trait 'imbue' which in itself isn't too viv of a feat " Agamemnon let loose, destroying Dante's personality as well as his power level

" I believe that will soon change " Sinbad replied with a smile

"And just what are we to expect, Sinbad " Ember questioned

" only time will tell " he answered as he walked out of the arena, disbanding the the meeting, as the other ring leaders also dispersed.

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